When the League programme resumed in 1946/47, United relied on many
of the men who had served them in the late 1930's, but it soon became
obvious that they were well past their best. Only 18 points were
amassed. At that point the lowest ever First Division total.
Interestingly enough, it was equalled by Queens Park Rangers in our
never to be forgotten first Championship year of 1968-69 and stood
until Stoke City's woeful 1984-85 season lowered the bar to 17 points.
Leeds' final 17 fixtures brought 15 defeats and two draws. Only one
point was secured away from home all season. It resulted in Willis
Edwards being appointed Manager in place of Billy Hampson for the
following season.

Hampson had previously made several fine acquisitions of young
players from Ireland. David Cochrane, Jim Twomey and Bobby Browne were
recent such acquisitions, who almost immediately became full
Internationals due to their form with United. He now gambled on the
versatile Eire International Con Martin who was bought from Glentoran
for £8,000. Versatile was the word as Cornelius, to give him his
"Sunday" name, played every position, including goalkeeper, for the
Republic and Aston Villa. He also represented both Eire and Northern
Ireland. He was the founding member of the Martin Dynasty which
supplied British Football with several generations of footballers. Son
Mick played over 50 times for Eire, and with Manchester United and
Newcastle United while Grandson Alan was on Leeds' books.

He also bought Darlington Centre-Forward Harry Clarke and the
veteran Centre-Half Ken Willingham, of Huddersfield Town, Sunderland
and England fame. He also gave chances to local born Harry Fearnley and
John Hodgson in the goalkeeping department. All was to no avail.

In the FA Cup there was the usual 3rd Round exit, this time 2-1 to
West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.

Willis Edwards welcomed back Albert Wakefield, after a season in
Italy, where he stayed after the war. He also cleared out several
reserves and allowed Bobby Browne to go to York City. In November he
let both George Ainsley and Gerry Henry leave for Bradford Park Avenue
and replaced them with the robust striker Ken Chisholm from Partick
Thistle and FA Cup winning Half-Back Jim Bullions from Derby County. He
also paid £10,000, and keeper John Hodgson, for the strong Irish
defender Jim McCabe, who quickly debuted for Ireland to illustrate his
ability.

The season was not much better than their last First Division
campaign, as predictably, rock-bottom United struggled in Division Two.
Again Leeds suffered from travel sickness, with only one away victory
as they escaped relegation to Division Three (North) by only two
points. They finished in 18th place, with 36 points. To add to United's
problems they had reported financial losses for three successive
seasons. On the bright side fans were turning up in droves all over the
country to witness football after being starved of entertainment for so
many years. Elland Road was no exception and had it not been for a
strong showing in the home games, where only four were lost, they would
have been sunk without trace.

Surprisingly the team was relatively stable, with the usual
formation being: Jim Twomey; Jim Milburn and Ken Gadsby, with a young
Jimmy Dunn breaking in late in the season; Ken Willingham, Jim
Bullions, Tom Holley, Con Martin and later Jim McCabe sharing the
Half-Back duties; David Cochrane, Aubrey Powell, Albert Wakefield, John
Short/Ken Chisholm, and Billy Heaton/Tom Hindle.

Albert Wakefield led the scorers with 21 followed by Aubrey Powell
with ten and Davie Cochrane and John Short both managed 7.

The FA Cup brought the usual misery with a 4-0 thrashing from at
Bloomfield Road by Blackpool.

Willis Edwards duly resigned as Manager, but continued as coach, and
Major Frank Buckley was chosen as his replacement in the managerial
position, for the ensuing 1948/49 season.

Major Frank Buckley was not everyone's cup of tea. It was once said
of him that there was no man in football who had been more cheered or
jeered than he. He did things very much his own way. Criticism had
little or no effect on him. One of the first things he did after his
appointment at Elland Road was to introduce his own mechanical kicking
machine to aid training. The machine, built of tubular steel, had the
look of a rocket-firing machine. It was loaded with half-a-dozen
footballs at once which were propelled singularly at adjustable heights
and used to improve a goalkeeper's weaknesses or an outfield players
heading, trapping and volleying. He also returned to a previously tried
technique, from his days at Wolverhampton, by treating some of the
players with monkey gland extract, in the belief that it would sharpen
their thinking, and make them better and more decisive players! He
innovatively, had the players ball-room dancing and chorus line
high-kicking in training! He also gave the club financial advice,
suggesting that the £30,000 of debentures should be repaid as
soon as
possible as it was a millstone round the club's neck.

He started putting the club on a better financial footing by selling
established stars such as Welsh International Aubrey Powell, who went
to Everton for £10,000 and versatile Irish International Con
Martin,
who went to Aston Villa for a similar sum. Admission price for
supporters was also increased.

The Major was a constant advocate for Youth and he would spend hours
scouring the parks of Leeds in search of potential stars. He organized
youth trials, even refereeing the games himself. 20 year old Len
Browning, who was excellent in the air, was drafted into the team to
partner Ken Chisholm up front. Jimmy Dunn had been bought from
Rutherglen Glencairn to partner Jim Milburn at full-back. Tom Burden
was signed from Chester, having previously played at Wolverhampton with
the Major, to form a solid half back line with Tom Holley and Irish
International Jim McCabe. Irish International keeper Jim Twomey was
first replaced by local boy Harry Fearnley until Harold Searson was
bought from Mansfield. After a string of bad results the Major dived
into the transfer market, exchanging Ray Iggleden of Leicester City for
Ken Chisholm, and left winger Jimmy Rudd for the long serving Tom
Hindle. The Irish International, blacksmith Eddie McMorran was bought
from Manchester City and two old hands John Short, to Millwall for
£4,000, and Billy Heaton, to Southampton for £7,000 were
also sold. The
Major was piecing together the jigsaw that was the basis of the United
team for several years to come. The mercurial Irish International right
winger Davie Cochrane was still casting his spell over opposing
full-backs and was constantly one of United's best players.

At Major Buckley's instigation, the club changed its strip to Old
Gold Shirts with Blue Sleeves and Collars, White Shorts and Black, Blue
and Old Gold Hooped Socks, as he maintained the players would recognise
each other better than in the old strip.

At the end of an indifferent season United struggled to 15th
position with 37 points.

In the FA Cup United received possibly their most humiliating defeat
to date, going down 3-1 to lowly Third Division (South) team Newport
County.

Tom Holley's long reign as the lynchpin of the United defence was
coming to an end.

In April 1949, in the annual clash between England and Scotland, the
English defence was given a torrid time by the Scotland centre-forward
Billy Houlison. As luck would have it, his team, Queen of the South,
were due to play a friendly against United at Elland Road, and several
thousand increased the gate just to see Houlison. They could have saved
their money, as he hardly got a kick all night! They did, however, get
more than their money's worth. A barely 18 year old "man mountain" from
Wales deputised for Holley. The first product of the Buckley youth
scheme stepped up and they witnessed the birth of a football legend.
William John Charles.